Search Results for: windmill

The post explains how to make a simple windmill generator circuit which can be used for charging batteries, or for operating any desired electrical equipment, all through day and night, free of cost.

Solar Panel vs Windmill

One of the biggest drawback of solar panel electricity is that it's available only during the day time and that too only when the sky is clear. Furthermore, the sun light being at its peak only during midday and not throughout the day makes its harnessing very inefficient.Contrary to this a windmill generator which depends on wind power appears to be much efficient because wind is available all through the day and does not rely on seasonal changes.

However a windmill generator may work with greatest efficiency only if it's installed or positioned on specific regions such as on higher altitudes, near sea or river shores etc.

For a homemade windmill generator to be most efficient one must position it on the roof top of the house in order to get the highest possible wind speed efficiency, the higher the better.

It's said that over 100 meters from ground wind speeds are the maximum and it's active all through the year non-stop, so that proves, higher the altitude better the wind efficiency.

Designing a Windmill Generator

A simple windmill generator circuit concept presented here can be built by any hobbyist for charging small batteries at home, completely free of cost and with negligible efforts.

Bigger models of the same can be tried for achieving greater power outputs which may be used for powering small houses.

Principle of Operation

The principle of operation is based on a traditional motor generator concept where a permanent magnet type motor's spindle is integrated with a turbine or propeller mechanism for the required harnessing of wind power.

As may be seen in the above diagram, the employed propeller or the turbine structure looks different. Here a twisted "S" shaped propeller system is used which has a distinct advantage over the traditional airplane type of propeller.

In this design the turbine rotation does not rely on the wind directions rather responds equally well and efficiently regardless from which side the wind may be flowing, this allow the system to get rid of a complex rudder mechanism, which are normally used in conventional windmills in order to keep the propeller self adjusting its front position in line with the wind flow.

In the shown concept the motor connected with the turbine keeps rotating with maximum efficiency no matter from which side or corner the wind may be appearing, which allows the windmill to be extremely effective and active all through the year.

Integrating an Electronic voltage Regulator

The electricity generated by the rotation of the motor coil in response to the torque from the turbine can be used for charging a battery or may be for driving an LEd lamp or any desired electrical load as per the user preference.

However, since the wind speeds could be fluctuating and never constant, it may be imperative to include some kind of stabilizer circuit across the output of the motor.

Using a Buck Boost Converter

We can solve the issue by adding a boost or a buck converter circuit as per the specs of the connected load.

But if your motor voltage specs is slightly higher than the load and if there's ample wind, you may exclude the involved boost circuit and directly connect the windmill output with the load after the bridge rectifier.

In the diagram we can seen a boost converter being employed after rectifying the windmill electricity through a bridge rectifier network.

The following image explains the details of the involved circuits, which are also not so complex and may be built using most of the ordinary components.

Circuit Schematic Setup

The above image shows a simple boost converter circuit with a feedback error amplifier regulator stage. The output from the windmill is suitably rectified by the associated bridge rectifier network and fed to the IC 555 based boost rectifier circuit.

Assuming the average windmill motor output to be around 12V, the boost circuit can be expected to boost this voltage to upto 60V+, however T2 stage in the circuit is designed to restrict this voltage to a specified stabilized output.

The zener diode at the base of T2 decides the regulation level and can be selected as per the required load restrictions specs.

The diagram shows a laptop battery being attached for charging from a windmill generator, other types of batteries may also be charged using the same circuit, simply by adjusting the value of the T2 zener diode.

Alternatively the number of turns of the boost inductor can also be altered and tweaked for acquiring other voltage ranges, depending upon the individual application specs.

Video:

The following video shows a small windmill set up in which a boost converter can be seen attached with a motor, and converting low power output from the motor to illuminate a 1 watt LED.

Here the motor is rotated manually with fingers, so the results are not so good. If the set up is attached with a turbine then the outcome can be much more enhanced.

The articles explains a home-built ELC circuit which may be used for regulating the speed and frequency of a windmill generator unit. The idea was requested by Mr. Nilesh Patil.

Technical Specifications

Hi Swagatam,

I am Great fan of your Electronic circuits and Hobby to create it. Basically i'm from rural area where 15 hours power cut off problem we facing every year

Even if i go for to buy inverter that is also not get charged due to power failure.

I have created wind mill generator (In Very Cheap Cost ) from that will support to charge 12 v battery.

For the same i m looking to buy wind mill charge turbine Controller that is too costly.

So planned to create our own if have suitable design from you

Generator Capacity : 0 - 230 AC Volt

input 0 - 230 v AC (Vary depends on wind speed)

output : 12 V DC (sufficient boost up current).

Overload / Discharge / Dummy Load handling

Can you please suggest or help me to develop it and required component & PCB from you

I May required many same circuit once succeed.

The Circuit Design

The design requested above can be implemented simply by using a step down transformer and a LM338 regulator as already discussed in many of my posts earlier.

The circuit design explained below is not relevant to the above request, rather addresses a much complex issue in situations where a windmill generator is used for operating AC loads assigned with mains 50Hz or 60Hz frequency specifications.

How an ELC Works

An electronic load controller is a device which frees or chokes up the speed of an associated electricity generator motor by adjusting the switching of a group of dummy or dump loads connected parallel with the actual usable loads.

The above operations become necessary because the concerned generator may be driven by an irregular, varying source such as a flowing water from a creek, river, waterfall or through wind.

Since the above forces could vary significantly depending upon the associated parameters governing their magnitudes, the generator could also be forced to increase or decrease its speed accordingly.

An increase in speed would mean an increase in voltage and frequency which in turn could be subjected to the connected loads, causing undesirable effects and damage to the loads.

Adding Dump Loads

By adding or deducting external loads (dump loads) across the generator, its speed could be effectively countered against the forced source energy such that the generator speed is maintained approximately to the specified levels of frequency and voltage.

I have already discussed a simple and effective electronic load controller circuit in one of my previous posts, the present idea is inspired from it and is quite similar to that design.

The figure below shows how the proposed ELC may be configured.

The heart of the circuit is the IC LM3915 which is basically a dot/bar LED driver used for displaying variations in the fed analogue voltage input through sequential LED illuminations.

The above function of the IC has been exploited here for implementing the ELC functions.

The generator 220V is first stepped down to 12V DC through a step down transformer and is used for powering the electronic circuit consisting the IC LM3915 and the associated network.

This rectified voltage is also fed to pin#5 of the IC which is the sensing input of the IC.

Generating Proportionate Sensing Voltages

If we assume the 12V from the transformer to be proportionate with 240V from the generator, implies that if the generator voltage rises to 250V would increase the 12V from the transformer proportionately to:

12/x = 240/250

x = 12.5V

Similarly if the generator voltage drops to 220V would proportionately drop the transformer voltage to:

12/x = 240/220
x = 11V

and so on.

The above calculations clearly show that the RPM, frequency and voltage of the generator are extremely linear and proportionate to each other.

In the proposed electronic load controller circuit design below, the rectified voltage fed to pin#5 of the IC is adjusted such that with all the usable loads switched ON, only three dummy loads: lamp#1, lamp#2 and lamp#3 are allowed to remain switched ON.

This becomes a reasonably controlled set up for the load controller, of course the adjustment variations range could be set up and adjusted to different magnitudes depending upon the users preferences and specifications.

This may be done by randomly adjusting the given preset at pin#5 of the IC or by using different sets of loads across the 10 outputs of the IC.

Setting up the ELC

Now with the above mentioned set-up let's assume the generator to be running at 240V/50Hz with the first three lamps in the IC sequence switched ON, and also all the external usable loads (appliances) switched ON.

Under this situation if a few of the appliances are switched OFF would relieve the generator from some load resulting in an increase in its speed, however the increase in the speed would also create an proportionate increase in voltage at pin#5 of the IC.

This will prompt the IC to switch ON its subsequent pinouts in the order thereby switching ON may be lamp#4,5,6 and so on until the speed of the generator is choked up in order to sustain the desired assigned speed and frequency.

Conversely, suppose if the generator speed tends to sow down due to degrading source energy conditions would prompt the IC to switch OFF lamp#1,2,3 one by one or a few of them in order to prevent the voltage from falling below the set, correct specifications.

The dummy loads are all terminated sequentially via PNP buffer transistor stages and the subsequent NPN power transistor stages.

All the PNP transistors are 2N2907 while the NPN are TIP152, which could be replaced with N-mosfets such as IRF840.

Since the above mentioned devices work only with DC, the generator output is suitably converted to DC via 10amp diode bridge for the required switching.

The lamps could be 200 watt rated, 500 watt rated or as preferred by the user, and the generator specs.

Circuit Schematic

A crank flashlight basically works by hand cranking a permanent magnet motor, which generates electricity for illuminating the attached LEDs.

Motor Becomes a Generator

Normally, a permanent magnet motor is used for executing a rotational movement by applying a DC potential across its specified supply terminals.

However we also know that the same motor can be easily converted into an electricity generator by reversing the operations, meaning when its shaft is applied with a rotational torque through an external mechanical force, causes electricity to be generated across its supply terminals.

The above phenomenon is exploited in crank flashlights where the external mechanical force is achieved through manual hand cranking of a motor via gears suitably enhanced to make the operations most efficient.

So it's just about forcing a permanent magnet type motor to rotate through manual force and witness electricity rolling out from its wire ends, it's as simple as that.

Having said this, the electricity from a hand cranked motor can be very unstabilized and therefore cannot be used for illuminating LEDs without going through proper processing.

Therefore an electronic circuit becomes crucial to ensure that the electricity from the motor is correctly and safely applied to the LEDs.

From the following in-depth study we will try to understand how crank flashlights work and regarding all the necessary parameters involved within these devices for a safe execution of the operations.

Main Parts of a Crank Flashlight

A Crank Flashlight basically requires the following parts:

1) A system involving a gear box and the associated mechanism cranking arrangement.

When you open a standard crank flashlight device, fundamentally you would be able to see all the above listed materials inside the casing, an example image is shared below for your reference:

In the image above we can clearly see all the items discussed above, the functioning of the entire system can be learned from the following explanation:

How a Crank Flashlight Works

1) When the motor is cranked with manual force (with hand), the motor begins generating electricity which flow through its wires and reaches the bridge rectifier stage.

2) The bridge rectifier ensures that regardless of the motor rotation direction the output is always maintained with a constant polarity, and the outcome is a pure DC. However this DC is full of ripples at this point

3) The filter capacitor attached with the bridge rectifier smooths the DC filters the ripples and creates a clean stable DC level.

4) This DC level is approximately equal to the motors specified operating voltage and normally this is generally around 3 to 5V.

5) For a 3V motor, the DC output can be assumed to be around 4V to 5V after rectification and filtration.

6) This 4 to 5V is directly applied to a 3.7V rechargeable cell, as indicated in the diagram. This cell is actually optional, and enables the system to store energy in it each time the mechanism is casually cranked by the user.

This stored energy in the battery becomes available for later usage for illuminating the LED simply by a press of the button switch (shown in RED), additionally this stored energy from the battery also reinforces the illumination with extra cranking by the user, for achieving an increased LED brightness.

7) If the battery is not required, the filter capacitor could be upgraded into a high value capacitor in the order of 4700uF/10V which could be preferably a super capacitor, and this enhancement can be used for replacing the battery entirely.

8) We can also see a few resistors near the LEDs, these are connected in series each LED, to ensure a current controlled supply to the LeDs, the LEDs are normally connected in parallel.

Crank Flashlight Circuit Diagram

The following schematic provides us the detailed configuration of a standard crank flashlight circuit:

From the above explanation you might have got a clear idea regarding how a crank flashlight works using the recommended parts and a motor in the form of a generator, if you have any further doubts, please do use the comment box for expressing your valuable thoughts.

In one of the upcoming articles we will learn how to use a crank flashlight as an ever-ready 24x7 power bank circuit for your smart phones.

In this post we discuss a universal ESC circuit or an electronic speed controller circuit which can be universally applied for controlling any type 3 phase BLDC motor.

What is an ESC

An ESC or electronic speed controller is an electronic circuit which is normally used for operating and controlling a BLDC 3-phase motor.

BLDC motor stands for brushless DC motor which clearly states that such motors are void of brushes, quite opposite to the brushed type of motors which rely on brushes for commutation.

Due to the absence of brushes BLDC motors are able to operate with maximum efficiency since the absence of brushes relieves it from frictions and other related inefficiency.

However BLDC motors have one major downside, these cannot be operated through a single supply like the other brushed motors, instead a BLDC motor requires a 3-phase driver for operating them.

Despite of this technical complexity, BLDC motors become highly preferable compared to their brushed counterpart, because BLDC motors are extremely efficient in terms power consumption and virtually no wear and tear issues.

As discussed above operating a BLDC motor looks quite complex, and if you try to look for a driver or an electronic speed controller circuit for BLDC motors you would probably come across circuits which are too complex using MCUs, or employ hard to find components.

In this post we will learn how to make a simple and effective ESC circuit which may be universally applied to operate most BLDC motors through some minor modifications.

Once you learn the details of the circuit, you could use it to build electric vehicles, quad copters, robots, automatic gates, vacuum cleaner and any motor operated product with maximum efficiency.

Since a BLDC motor requires a 3 phase signal, the first thing that needs to be designed is a 3-phase generated circuit.

The following circuits show how this can be made using a handful of operating parts.The first one uses opamps while the second one makes use of just a few BJTs.

Simple 3 phase Generators

Therefore the second important element is the 3 phase driver circuit, which is supposed to respond to the above 3 phase generator circuit for operating the connected BLDC motor.

For a 3 phase driver, you could employ any standard 3-phase driver IC, such as a A4915, 6EDL04I06NT, or our old IRS233 IC

In our universal ESC circuit we will use the IRS233 and see how this can be configured for the intended electronic speed control and implemented for most BLDC motors. The following image shows the entire circuit of the proposed ESC design.

The ESC Schematic

The presented ESC circuit looks pretty straightforward and does not seem to employ any complex stages.

The 3 phase signals acquired from the 3 phase generator circuits is applied to the inputs of the NOT gates shown at the top left of the above diagram.

These 3 phase signals are converted into the required Hin, and Lin inputs for the 3 phase mosfer driver IC IRS233.

The IC IRS233 hen process these signals to operate the connected BLDC motor with the correct phase and torque via the associated driver mosfets or IGBTs.

We can also see an IC 555 based PWM stage. This stage is configured with the low side mosfets or IGBTs, for chopping their gate triggers into appropriate sections.

This gate chopping forces the devices to operate at a rate determined by these chopping PWM duty cycle rate. Wider duty cycles enables the motor to rotate faster and narrower duty cycle allows the motor to slow down proportionately.

The PWM rate is controlled through the IC 555 through the indicated PWM pot.

The post discusses a diesel generator RPM controller circuit for boats using PWM technique and also using a simple triac shunt circuit. The idea was requested by Mr. Dave.

Automatic RPM Control for Diesel Generators

Hi,
I have been looking with interest at your electronic circuits web site and would appreciate it you could comment on the following
I presently run a 220v 50 hz generator from the main diesel engine in my boat, the RPM of this engine is NOT governed and is difficult to set at the correct rev to keep the generator at the correct RPM for 50 hz output
Would it be possible to convert this varying AC FREQUENCY 220V to 220v dc using a bridge rectifier and then convert it back to 220 v olts 50hz
This would solve a major problem for those of us that have small boats that do not have space or are able to carry the extra load of another marine diesel engine, the generator is capable of 4kva output
your comments would be appreciated
thanking you kindly
Dave
South AFRICA

The Circuit Design

The requested circuit deign for controlling a diesel generator RPM can be executed either by employing a PWM technique or the same could be implemented through an automatic shunt regulator circuit design, let's understand the two counterparts from the following explanation:

The design looks pretty straightforward, wherein the diode bridge network converts the 220V input to a 330V DC bus voltage for the full bridge driver network, which in turn converts it into a 220V AC square wave through the associated 4 N-channel push pull mosfet network.
Since this output is 330V DC square wave output, it is appropriately processed using the IC 555 PWM section into the required 220V AC sine wave output.The PWM setting ensures a fixed 220V output which can e expected to be relatively stble without fluctuations.

Using the Triac Shunt Method

Although precise, the above concept looks quite elaborate and complex when compared to the following simple triac shunt based diesel generator controller circuit:

However the same design could be also effectively used for controlling a diesel generator output to a fixed 220V.
The circuit looks much simpler and self explanatory.
The bridge rectifier converts both the half cycles from the diesel generator into positive full wave cycles for the triac, so that the triac circuit is able to shunt both these cycles to ground that may exceed the 220V mark.

The 220v zener diode fixes the shunting level for the triac, this section could be replaced using TL431 shunt zener IC for enabling an accurate temperature stabilized output for the generator.The bridge network must be adequately rated to handle the generator current peaks.

The post explains a simple vertical axis wind turbine generator circuit using ready made high power generator dynamo and a vertical axis wind turbine mechanism. The idea was requested by Mr. Taibani.

Technical Specifications

Hello Swagatam,

Bro hope you're doing well. Firstly thanks for all the great knowledge & information you have given here its really appreciated. I am trying to do a project of home made low RPM VAWT generator which can generate enough power to run one small scale factory

I need your help on winding section.

1) Correct copper winding design for low rpm.

2) Correct copper wire gauge.

3) Number of turns of winding.

4) What core material should be used for low drag ( Lenz effect ).

Please help me out & your readers with your great knowledge.

Thanks & Regards,

Taibani Imran.

The Circuit Design

Designing a VAWT motor is not easy and might require good expertise in the field and at the moment for me this looks much complex and I have little idea regarding the same.

However for any layman the idea could be easily implemented through a ready made generator as described below:

Below is an example of a 10,000 watt dynamo which could be used for the proposed vertical axis wind turbine generator application

Instead of winding a vertical axis wind generator yourself, a simpler idea would be to configure the VAWT mechanism with a high watt generator or a dynamo through a correctly calculated gear or pulley/belt ratio.

For example, the above shown 10 kv dynamo has a specifications of generating 10000 watt at around 3600 RPM, which implies that if the a pulley ratio of 1:100 is configured, the dynamo would be able to produce the rated amount of power with the VAWT rotating at just around 36 RPM, which could be achieved perhaps even at wind speeds as low as 5km per hour.

How to Set Up the Turbines

The following diagram shows a rough set up design for the above explained implementation:

The figure above shows a simple vertical axis wind turbine model, the vertical helical turbine is designed to capture wind flow on one half of its span while allow free flow on the other half, causing the propeller to initiate a rotational movement with high torque.

Being vertical in its positioning the VAWT does not rely on wind directions unlike the traditional horizontal axis wind turbines. This advantage makes the VAWT sustain its operations under all wind conditions regardless of its direction of flow.

The central vertical axis of the turbine can be seen attached with a gigantic flywheel, which is supposed to be a lot bigger than the wheel attached with the generator shaft.

The bigger the ratio, the bigger would be the conversion even at minimal wind speeds.

With a ratio of 1:100, the generator could be expected to be generating at its full capacity and specification, with the VAWT moving at a meager 50 RPM or even less. This speed could be in turn achieved at wind speeds not exceeding 5 to 10 miles per hour.

Controlling VAWT speed using Shunt Regulator Circuit

The above explained set up is for facilitating efficient conversions at low wind speeds, but what happens when the wind is rapid or during stormy conditions.

If this situation is not taken care of can easy rip-of the generator winding and burn it within no time.

In order to control the VAWT speed at dangerous wind speeds, the following shunt regulator circuit could be used with the output of the generator for achieving a constant speed on the generator and the VAWT.

In the above figure the generator output is applied to a high current triac shunt regulator network through a 50 amp bridge rectifier module.

The value of the zener diode determines the control threshold, which is shown as 220V in the diagram. It means under no circumstances the voltage from the generator can exceed the 220V mark, and if it does the excess power is simply shunted or shorted to ground via the triac.

This ensures a controlled rotation of the generator even at formidable wind speeds keeping the entire system stabilized and safe.

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About Me

Swagatam is an ardent electronic researcher, inventor, schematic/PCB designer, manufacturer, and an avid publisher. He is the founder of https://www.homemade-circuits.com/where visitors get the opportunity to read many of his innovative electronic circuit ideas, and also solve crucial circuit related problems through comment discussion.